For good reason. Hitting winners with blissful ease, Stosur on Sunday won her first career claycourt title, just three weeks after pushing into the Top 10 for the first time.

To be sure, the Charleston tournament didn't get to host many of the best players in the world this year, but one thing was certain: Stosur looked like a champion. With those dark glasses and that sleek physique, she's The Terminator of tennis. And on Sunday, all the bolts were tightened and the oil topped off. In almost every game of the final, you could be forgiven for thinking she wouldn't lose another point -- not just in that particular game, but ever again. Vera Zvonareva, the Aussie's opponent, is known for her histrionics when losing, but Stosur's perfection sent the Russian into a Baby Herman-worthy meltdown (watch below).

Stosur is adding fans with every tournament, and it's easy to understand why. The WTA needs a breakthrough player. Even more so, it needs a grown up. Most of the tour's breakthrough wannabes, like Victoria Azarenka (who dropped an F-bomb on Twitter last week), appear to be only days removed from playing with dolls. But Stosur, poised and thoughtful at 26, seems suitable for the role of catcher in the rye -- except that, being a professional tennis player, it's her job to help the Zvonarevas and Azarenkas of the world find the edge of the cliff and then shove them over it.

Of course, it's one thing to lead Vera Zvonareva to her demise, quite another to get Justine Henin or Serena Williams to step off the mountain.